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Roger Sweet, Creator of the He-Man Action Figure, Dies at 91
The musclebound character he developed as a toy designer for Mattel gave rise to the Masters of the Universe franchise and helped define the machismo of the 1980s.
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Roger Sweet in an undated photograph. “I always wanted to be a He-Man and never could,” he said in 2019. “I knew almost every guy in the world would love to be a He-Man.”
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By
Sopan Deb
April 29, 2026,
7:15 p.m. ET
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Roger Sweet
,
a toy designer
who created the musclebound hero He-Man for Mattel as well as other characters for the popular Masters of the Universe cartoon and toy franchise in the 1980s, died on Tuesday. He was 91.
Mattel confirmed the death in a statement, which did not cite a cause or say where he died.
“Roger played a pivotal role in the early development of Masters of the Universe, helping introduce iconic characters like He-Man and Skeletor to the world and inspiring generations of fans to find their inner power,” the statement said. “His legacy endures in the characters he helped bring to life and the imaginations he ignited.”
The He-Man character arose from a missed opportunity. Months before “Star Wars” was released in 1977, Mattel was among the companies that the director George Lucas approached with a proposal to license toys connected to what would become one of the most celebrated and lucrative franchises in the world. Mattel passed. Kenner, which scored the licensing deal, would become a toy powerhouse.
Image
Last month, Mattel announced a new line of Masters of the Universe toys to coincide with a new live-action He-Man film coming in June.
Credit...
Angelika Warmuth/Reuters
Mattel scrambled for an answer and asked Mr. Sweet, who joined the company as a designer in 1972, to come up with a response.
“Mattel market research found the three most popular things were barbarian fantasy, futuristic military as in ‘Star Wars’ and current military, as in G.I. Joe,” Mr. Sweet
told The Daily Herald of Everett, Wash., in 2019
. “I took this nine-and-a-half-inch figure, and I glued him in an action pose and I widened his shoulders. A lot. Then I added a huge amount of clay to him.”
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